Here’s an in-depth look at common cake pan sizes & conversions, as well as how to adjust recipes or make substitutions based on the pan sizes you have. Free printable included.
Unless you have a fully stocked kitchen with dozens of baking pans, chances are that you’ll run into a recipe where you don’t have the specific pan required. In fact, a cake pan substitution is the subject of most recipe questions I receive. I figured it would be easier to store all of this information in one convenient place for us all to reference.
Welcome to my Cake Pan Sizes & Conversions lesson!
This Post Includes:
- Common Baking Pan Measurements
- Cake Pans That Are Similar
- Substituting Cake Pans
- Adapting Cake Recipes to Fit Certain Pans
- Amount of Batter Some of My Cake Recipes Yield
Common Baking Pan Measurements
In this list, you’ll find common baking pan measurements and the volume of batter they hold. **The amount listed is the total amount of batter each pan holds, but you usually only fill cake pans halfway (unless otherwise noted in the recipe you are using).** Most measurements were taken at my home kitchen. Cross referenced with the always trusted Joy of Baking, as well.
Measurement Conversions
- 1 inch = 2.54cm
- 1 cup = 240ml
Round Pans:
6×2 inches (15 x 5cm) = 4 cups (960ml)
8×2 inches (20 x 5cm) = 6 cups (1.4 liters)
9×2 inches (23 x 5cm) = 8 cups (1.9 liters)
Square Pans:
8×2 inch square (20 x 5 cm) = 8 cups (1.9 liters)
9×2 inch square (23 x 5 cm) = 10 cups (2.4 liters)
10×2 inch square = (25 x 5 cm) = 12 cups (2.8 liters)
Rectangular Pans – 2 inch (5 cm) tall
11×7 inches (28 x 18 cm) = 10 cups (2.4 liters)
13×9 inches (33 x 23 cm) = 14 cups (3.3 liters)
Springform Pans:
9x 2.5 inches (23 x 6 cm) = 10 cups (2.4 liters)
10x 2.5 inches (25 x 6 cm) = 12 cups (2.8 liters)
Bundt Pan – volume varies because of various designs
10×3 inch (25 x 8 cm) = 10-12 cups (2.8 liters)
Tube Pan:
9×3 inches (23 x 8 cm) = 12 cups (2.8 liters)
Jelly Roll Pans – 1 inch (2.5 cm) tall
10×15 inches (27 x 39 cm) = 10 cups (2.4 liters)
12×17 inches (32 x 44 cm) = 12 cups (2.8 liters)
Loaf Pans – about 3 inches (8 cm) tall
8×4 inch (20 x 10 cm) = 4 cups (960 ml)
9×5 inch (23 x 13 cm) = 8 cups (1.9 liters)
How to Determine the Volume Yourself
If you want to calculate a pan’s volume yourself, it’s so easy! Simply fill your pan with 1 cup of water at a time and count until it’s full. That’s what I do!
How Much Does This Pan Hold?
Here’s a helpful list of the most common baking pans and the volume of batter they hold, as well as which pans hold the same amount of batter. ***Keep in mind that the volumes listed mean you are filling the pan all the way to the top with batter, which isn’t ideal for baked goods. Unless otherwise noted, filling pans around 2/3 full is the best practice. This leaves room for rising.
- For example, my vanilla cake recipe yields around 8 cups of batter which I divide between 3 9×2 inch round cake pans. (Each hold 8 cups of batter!) Each cake layer has a little less than 3 cups batter each.
Use the following section to determine which baking pans can be substituted for others based on their full volume.
Round Pans
- 6×2 inch round pan holds 4 cups of batter, the same as an 8×4 inch loaf pan. Fun discovery! Cupcake recipes yielding 12-16 cupcakes fit wonderfully in 3 6-inch cake pans. See my post for 6 inch cake recipes for more information.
- 8×2 inch round pan holds 6 cups of batter.
- 9×2 inch round pan holds 8 cups of batter, the same as an 8×2 inch square pan and a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- 10×2 inch round pan holds 10-11 cups of batter, the same as a 9×2 inch square pan, 11×7 inch pan, 10×15 inch jelly roll pan, 10×3 inch Bundt pan, and a 9×2.5 inch springform pan.
Square Pans
- 8×2 inch square pan holds 8 cups of batter, the same as a 9×2 inch round pan and a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- 9×2 inch square pan holds 10 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch round pan, 11×7 inch pan, 9×2.5 inch springform pan, 10×3 inch Bundt pan, and a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan.
- 10×2 inch square pan holds 12 cups of batter, the same as a 12×17 inch jelly roll pan, 10×3 inch Bundt pan, 10×2.5 inch springform pan, and a 9-inch tube pan.
Rectangle Pans
- 11×7 inch pan holds 10 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch round pan, 9×2-inch square pan, 9×2.5 inch springform pan, 10×3 inch Bundt pan, and a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan.
- 9×13 inch pan holds 14-16 cups of batter, essentially the same as 2 9×2-inch round pans.
Jelly Roll Pans
- 10×15 inch jelly roll pan holds 10 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch round pan, 9-inch square pan, 11×7 pan, 9×2.5 inch springform pan, 10-inch Bundt pan.
- 12×17 inch jelly roll pan holds 12 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch square pan, 10-inch Bundt pan, 10×2.5 inch springform pan, and a 9-inch tube pan.
Bundt Pans
10-inch Bundt pans are the standard size. I actually have several that are 9.5 inches and most Bundt cake recipes still fit.
- 10-inch Bundt pan holds 10-12 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch round pan (10 cups), 9×2 inch square pan (10 cups), 10×2 inch square pan (12 cups), 11×7 inch pan (10 cups), 10×15 inch jelly roll pan (10 cups), 12×17 inch jelly roll pan (12 cups), 9×2.5 inch springform pan (10 cups), 10×2.5 inch springform pan (12 cups) and a 9-inch tube pan (12 cups).
Tube Pans
9×3 inch tube pans are the standard size. I have a few that are 8 inch and 10 inch and most recipes using tube pans fit nicely in all.
- 9×3 inch tube pan holds 12 cups of batter, the same as 10×2 inch square pan, 12×17 inch jelly roll pan, and a 10×2.5 inch springform pan.
Springform Pans
- 9×2.5 inch springform pan holds 10 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch round pan, 9×2 inch square pan, 11×7 inch pan, a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan.
- 10×2.5 inch springform pan holds 12 cups of batter, the same as a 10×2 inch square pan, 12×17 inch jelly roll pan, and a 9×3 inch tube pan.
Loaf Pans
- 8×4 inch loaf pan holds 4 cups of batter, the same as a 6×2 inch round pan.
- 9×5 inch loaf pan holds 8 cups of batter, the same as a 9×2 inch round pan and an 8×2 inch square pan.
Substituting Cake Pans
I’m piggy-backing this one to the section above because there’s often a need to substitute different cake pans. If substituting a baking pan that holds the same amount of batter, be wary of the baking time because the dimensions of the baked good will change. Always keep your eye on the oven and begin checking for doneness earlier than the recipe states.
Remember, only fill pans about 1/2 to 2/3 full unless otherwise instructed in the recipe.
FREE PRINTABLE
Here is a free printable you can hang in your kitchen workspace: Volumes & Measurements of Common Baking Pans
Adapting Recipes to Fit Certain Cake Pans
Adapting recipes to fit the cake pans you have (or need) can often be complicated. While it’s always best to stick to the written recipe, sometimes you need to make adjustments and that’s where a little math can help.
1) Determine the volume your pan can hold. You can also determine the actual surface area of the pan in square inches. I actually used Food 52’s article by Alice Medrich on this subject to brush up on my math!
- For square and rectangle pans, multiply the length of the sides. For example, a 9×13 inch baking pan is 117 square inches. 9×13 = 117.
- For circle pans, determine the area by multiplying the radius squared by π. (π = 3.14, the radius is half of the diameter, and squaring means multiplying a number by itself.) For example, the area of a 9-inch round pan is 63. The radius is 4.5. 4.5×4.5 = 20.25. Multiply that by 3.14 = 63.5.
2) After you determine the volume your pan can hold or its square inches, you can confidently make baking pan substitutions.
- For example, if a 9×13 inch pan is 117 square inches and a 9-inch round pan is 63.5 square inches, you can be confident that the volume from one 9×13 inch pan can fit into TWO 9-inch round pans (approximately 120 square inches total).
What if volumes and square inches don’t match up perfectly? You’ll have to adjust the recipe and this requires more math.
For example, if you want to adapt a 9-inch round cake to a 10-inch round cake, you’ll need to make adjustments. A 9-inch round cake pan is 63.5 square inches/holds 8 cups of batter. A 10-inch round cake pan is 78.5 square inches/holds 10-11 cups of batter. Without any adaptions, your 10-inch cake layers will be very thin. You’ll need to increase the batter by 25%.
The get this percentage, work with the cups or square inches. Subtract the number you have (8 cups) from the number you want (10 cups). Divide that (2 cups) by what you have (8 cups), then multiply by 100. (The universal way to find a percentage.) This equals 25%.
How to Avoid the Math
What works for me most of the time (because I don’t trust myself with too much math!) is to 1.5x the recipe or even making 2 batches of batter. (For best success, taste, and texture, I always recommend making separate full batches instead of doubling. Doubling risks over-mixing or under-mixing and could overwhelm your mixer.) Then, I use leftover batter to make a few cupcakes on the side to freeze for another time.
It’s better to have extra batter rather than not enough.
What About Eggs?
If you need part of an egg for when you are adjusting a recipe, crack the egg, beat it, and whatever percentage of that mixture you need. If you need 1/3 of an egg and you have 3 Tablespoons of beaten egg, use 1 Tablespoon. For a more precise amount and if you don’t trust your measurements, you can also weigh the beaten egg on a kitchen scale to determine exactly how much you need.
- Cover, refrigerate, and add any leftovers to your scrambled eggs the next morning!
Amount of Batter Some of My Cake Recipes Yield
The following list will help if you need to adjust my recipes for different pan sizes. These are the recipes I know and all measurements are approximate.
- Checkerboard Cake: about 8 cups
- Vanilla Naked Cake: about 8 cups
- Vanilla Cake: about 8 cups
- Confetti Cake: about 8 cups
- Chocolate Cake: about 6 cups
- White Cake: about 7 cups
- Banana Cake: about 6 cups
- Strawberry Cake: about 7 cups
- Snickerdoodle Cake: about 8 cups
- Coconut Cake: about 7-8 cups
- Red Velvet Cake: about 6-7 cups
- Lemon Cake: about 7 cups
My Favorite Baking Pans
I have a list for you! Stock your kitchen with these 8 best baking pans and these 10 cake baking & decorating tools.
The next time you have a question about cake pan sizes & conversions, I hope you find your answer in this post so you can confidently make the adjustments needed.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I am baking a cake today from a recipe that calls for 2 x 8 inch round pans, and instead want to use 3 x 6 inch. I think this should be okay volume wise (there will be a little batter left over as volume of the 6 inch pans is smaller) but I am not sure if I need to adjust cooking time. Aiming for a similar depth of batter as with the 8 inch layers. Any advice? 🙂
Hi Hannah, you can follow the baking times from our 6-inch cake recipes as a guide. We recommend filling cake pans about 1/2 way so that there is plenty of room for them to rise without overflowing. Hope this helps!
recipe calls for three 8 inch layers for a german chocolate cake. I have 9 inch pans, acn I use the recipe in the 9 inch pan and have thiner layers? the Frosting is thick and delicious or should I make two batches of cake. Kinda expensive….
Hi Patricia, Our German Chocolate Cake recipe calls for 3, 9 inch pans.
Hi! I just found this post via pinterest. I’m wanting to make a standard box cake mix in mini loaf pans so that I can more easily freeze the extra and have cake on the ready anytime I want a slice. Any advice on cook times and temp?
Hi Randi! We always bake cakes at 350F, but the bake time will vary by the size of your mini loaves. Always keep an eye on the cakes in the oven and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I want to make your white cake for my son’s birthday however, a double layer 9 inch cake is just too much for us to eat. I was thinking of using 2- 6 inch pans which according to the conversion is just 4 cups of batter and the white cake yields about 7 cups could I half the recipe to use the 6 inch pans otherwise I will be wasting about 3 cups of batter, what do you think?
Hi Pat! Perhaps you would like to use our 6 inch cake recipe instead (yielding a three layer 6 inch cake).
I wish you had 2 layer 6″ cake recipes instead of 3 layer. I know what Pat is saying. I want to make much smaller cakes too, but a 3 layer 6″ still seems to be a big cake when baking for 2-4 people. I have tried some of your recipes for larger parties however, and they always come out delicious. Thank you.
I just discovered your website. Really nice. I’ve been perusing all evening. I am very new to baking cakes. I’ve only ever done biscuits and scones. I just made my second cake — first completely from scratch. I have 8×3 inch springforms. Can you help me understand the benefit of getting a pair of 9×2’s?
Hi Jay, I’m glad to help and thank you for checking out my website. If a recipe calls for 9-inch pans, you’ll likely have too much batter for the 8×3-inch pans. Yes, they are taller than the 9×2-inch pans, but that means the cakes will be thicker than intended and require a longer bake time. Of course, if you don’t want to purchase the 9-inch pans, that’s fine too. Just expect the cake layers to be thicker and take longer to bake.
Hi! I have a 6 x 4 round pan. Do I use the same calculations? What about bake time and temperature in this case? I had a disaster with having it taking sure long to fully bake and the. The cake was hard & dry. Thanks in advance. Eve
Hi, I wanted to adapt some of your cake recipes for a thin cake baked in a half sheet pan (13″ x 18″ x 1.05″), so that I can use cake cutters to cut out small rounds for mini cakes. I doubled your chocolate cake recipe, but that was too much batter. I ended up using a sheet pan extender, but I really just want a thin cake without a dome. I checked by pouring water in and 8 cups is needed to fill it to ~ the 2/3s mark. Your chocolate cake makes about 6 cups. Do you have any suggestions on how much to increase it for this size pan without making too much excess batter? I appreciate your help!
Thank you,
Molly
Hi Molly, you could 1.5x the recipe (for about 9 cups of batter), and then use the leftover batter for a few cupcakes on the side. Hope this helps!
I would like to use the Zucchini Cake recipe for my wedding. I want to bake it in a loaf pan and mini loaf pans for gifts. What would be the baking time?
Hi Lisa, we would recommend using this zucchini bread with cream cheese icing for a loaf pan. You can use that recipe for mini loaf pans too. Same temperature, but baking time will be less and depend on the exact size of your pans. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
How much cake batter is used with mini loaf pans – I’m going to use your Red velvet cake receipe. Thank you
Hi Naoma, Our Red Velvet Cake recipe yields roughly 8-9 cups of batter. You can definitely use that recipe to make mini loafs. Enjoy!
Thanks for this. Could you add directions for a 3″ deep half sheet pan?
Hi Cynthia, if you want to calculate a pan’s volume yourself, it’s so easy! Simply fill your pan with 1 cup of water at a time and count until it’s full. That’s what we do!
What are your adjustments to baking in a higher altitude of 4400 when baking the wedding cake?
Hi Patricia, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html Let us know if you give it a try!
Can you make this in a printable version? ❤️
That has been in the works – thank you for a reminder!
How many servings can you get out of a 9 inch 2 layer cake ? Making it for a party… can you get 20 slices
Hi Rylee, it really depends on the size of your slices. There are many guides online that provide different slicing options to make the most of your cake. We’d do a quick search for one!
I read your article but having trouble adjusting my cheesecake recipe Original recipe calls for 9″ springform pan. I just purchased a 9″ x 13″ rectangle springform pan. How much should I increase my ingredients, double?? Thank you.
What is the circumference of a 10” cake and the width of each slice when divided into 8 and 12 slices, please.
Omg I’m having the exact dilemma over here . My daughter wants a cheesecake for Christmas and we are 10 people so I’ve bought a rectangular 9×13 in. (34×24cm) spring form and I’m trying to figure out how much mix to make .
How many servings can I get from a jelly roll pan?
Hi sally, how much buttercream just to cover a 8”x12”x 4” cake, because I’m using a different buttercream how much do I need to fill the cake?
Hi Yvonne, this vanilla buttercream yields enough to lightly cover that size cake.
Hi Sally, do you also use 4″ and 5″ round baking pans? And if you do, what’s the average baking time?
Hi Chantal, we don’t have much experience baking with those smaller pans, but the bake time will be just a bit shorter than for 6 inch cakes. Keep a close eye on them and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I have made this cake and love it!
I wish to make it in 2- 12″ round layers. How many batches should it take…I too hate the math and dont want to guess at it.
Thank you….this cake is fantastic!
Im speaking of the burnt sugar caramel cake( left that out!)
I’m making your hummingbird cake recipe for a wedding cake! Please check my math! I’ll be using three 10″ pans for the bottom layer and three 8″ pans for the top layer. What I figured out is that I should double the recipe to make 14 cups of batter for the three 10″ pans, with 4 1/3 cups of batter in each pan, and then make one recipe for the three 8″ pans, with 2 1/3 cup batter in each pan. Does that sound right? Can you help me figure out how much of the icing recipe I should make? I’d rather make too much than not enough. Very excited for this baking adventure!
Hello! I’m hoping you can help me. I’m making a Hummingbird cake for a relative’s wedding. The bottom tier will be 10″ round, 3 layers, and the top tier is 8″ round, 3 layers. The recipe I’m using calls for three 9″ round pans. I’m going to bake the 8-inch layers first and save 25% of the batter (because the recipe calls for 9 inch pans) to use in my 10-inch layers. But, I have no idea how to adjust the baking time. The recipe says to bake the 9-inch cakes for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick is clean. Should I use the same baking time or do I need to adjust? Thank you so much!!!
Hi Caroline, bake time will be just a few minutes shorter for 8-inch cakes—-keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness. If you were to use all the batter from the 9-inch cake recipe and bake it in 8-inch pans, the bake time would be a few minutes longer, because the cakes would be thicker. But since you aren’t using some of the batter, the bake time should be a little shorter because the cakes are smaller. Hope it turns out great!
Our grandson has registered for a Junior Baking Competition baking “bars”. I have found “bars” to have a dense consistency after baking. He loves my moist recipe Apple Cinnamon Cake which uses a spring form cake pan and iced with cinnamon buttercream . How/what do we do to change this recipe to a “bar”.
Hi June, it’s difficult to offer advice without trying the exact recipe ourselves, but you might be interested in these brown butter apple blondies as a bar option. Let us know if you try it!
Hello! Your site is so incredibly helpful to me, both for recipes and for other advice and tips. I just purchased a few 4 inch cake pans…any idea how many cups of batter would be the right amount for these? Or would you recommend just filling them halfway and then noting the amount? Any help would be so appreciated!!
Hi Megan, It would be best to fill your pans half way and note the amount. We haven’t tested 4 inch pans to be certain.
Thank you for doing this. Very handy to have all the information in one place.
Hi,Sally’s I love all your recipes. My favorite is your Red velvet cake. I have made it several times. It’s always the show stopper. I want to make this a 10″ Red velvet cake could you give me the measurement for a 10-in red velvet cake please. I’m trying to make a 2 trier and 8″ on top. I’m very much a beginner.
This email with all the different conversions is amazing, but wd like in a printable form…is that possible?
Hi LaVonne, that’s a great suggestion! We will see what we can do, stay tuned!
Wonderful and informative article. I love that you continually educate your readers and fellow bakers. One suggestion is it would be great to have a ‘print’ option to print without all the extra space for ads, etc. As it is, I have to copy and past to an email- definitely doable but not ideal. Thanks you for all your delicious recipes.
Thanks for the article. One thing I suggest is to place more emphasis on the amount of batter each pan should be filled with. For example some common cake pan companies suggest filling to 1/2 volume for cake pans 2″ deep or 2/3 for 3 or 4 inch deep pans. (obviously this will be dependent on the recipe and rise of the cake and baking preferences).
I know you mentioned this earlier in the article and towards the end, but I really think it would help to add it along to the cake pan size under your heading of “How much does this pan hold” because many people do “skip around” an article and go straight to the information they are looking for.
But otherwise, I love the article and all your recipes!
I wanted to make 8 inches instead of 9 inch 3 layer cake. Can I just fill 2/3 full and use leftover batter for cupcakes? Also adjust time?
Hi Carol, yes, that works! Bake time will be just a few minutes shorter for an 8 inch cake—keep a close eye on it and use a toothpick to test for doneness.
Very helpful, as I’m adjusting cake batter from two six inch pans to two nine inch pans, but can you add advice on how long to bake the cakes when adjusting cake pans for a white cake?
Hi Marian! Usually 9 inch cakes need to bake for about 25 minutes, but always use a toothpick to test for doneness.
This is so helpful! I’m trying to convert 8×8 brownie recipe to a sheet pan size. Would it be double for 10×15 & triple for 12×17? Thx ☺️
Hi Karen! Those adaptations are close! The thickness may vary a bit.